The Will of Fire
by Ashitheviolinist
Summary: Sarada was the firstborn of the renewed Uchiha clan. Sure, it was well known that she differed from her father and other past Uchihas but by how much? This story follows Sarada's life and all of the trials and tribulations she goes through.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! This is the first chapter of a two-shot series I have started. It is formatted in the same way as How the Winters Change, which is also about an Uchiha lady (what can I say? The Uchiha women are fabulous). This fic strays from canon very early on and becomes my personal idea of what Sarada's life is like. I personally doubt that any of the situations I thought up will ever become cannon, but hey, I like 'em.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All characters (except for a few of my creation) belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

Sarada's first memory was of her father. She remembered seeing Sasuke's onyx eyes looking at her with pride as she spun around in her burgundy dress, emblazoned with the Uchiha symbol. Sasuke had just gifted her an entire new wardrobe for her birthday with the _Uchiwa_ on each article of clothing. As for the rest of the day, Sarada didn't remember it as well; it hardly mattered anyway. What mattered was that her father was proud of her, and Sarada would never forget that.

* * *

The rosy hues of morning filled Sarada's bedroom, bathing her bed in a soft light. She opened her eyes and smiled with anticipation since today was her first day of the academy.

Stepping off her bed, she put her red glasses on and moved towards her wardrobe, knowing exactly what she would wear.

 _You should look formal but not overdressed._ Sarada remembered her mother's words, picking out her white shirt, orange vest, yellow cardigan, and red skirt. After dressing, she observed herself in the mirror, ultimately approving of the look.

"Sarada!" Sakura called from downstairs, "Breakfast's ready. You don't want to be late for your first day!"

"Coming Mama!" She replied, skipping out of her room and to the kitchen. A warm plate of eggs, toast, and fruit sat waiting for Sarada at the table.

"I can't believe my girl has gotten so grown up." Sakura sighed, squeezing her only daughter, "Eat up sweetie. You want to be well fed so that you can show everyone how great the Uchihas are!"

"Mama," Sarada started, "if you're an Uchiha, why aren't grandma and grandpa? You said that papa's parents were."

"I wasn't born an Uchiha. You see, once I married your papa, I became an Uchiha."

"Oh, okay mama!" Sarada exclaimed after a moment of thought, "I'm going to go to the Academy now!"

"Have an amazing day."

"Of course!"

* * *

Sarada wasn't surprised when everyone seemed to know who she was. As Mama had often told her, _Uchihas are very well known for their strength and intelligence. I have no doubt that you'll live up to that reputation._ Yet again, heeding her mother's wisdom, Sarada opened the textbook she had just been assigned and began to read it.

"Four-eyes!" A voice called from behind her, breaking her concentration, "You don't even know what we're supposed to read. On top of that, studying is boring, why don't you have some fun?"

Sarada rolled her eyes and turned, ready to snap at whoever had interrupted her reading. Upon turning around, she realized that the obnoxious kid was Boruto. Her family friend and the son of the Hokage.

"Leave me alone Boruto." She sighed, turning back to the reading.

"Geez Sarada, you're no fun." The Uzumaki grumbled before sliding into a seat beside Shikadai.

The door of the classroom slid open as their new sensei walked in. He wore a green jacket and had something that slightly resembled electronic goggles on his face.

"Hello class." He said, setting his books onto the teacher's desk, "My name is Shino Aburame, but you can just call me Shino-sensei. That is because I will be teaching you until you graduate. Why don't we go around the room and introduce ourselves."

Each of the new Genin gave their name and something they liked to do. Once it was Sarada's turn, she sat up straighter and adjusted her glasses.

"My name is Sarada Uchiha. I like to train and read." She announced proudly, making sure everyone heard her speak.

Shino nodded and moved around the class, quickly jotting down each individual answer.

"I am pleased." He stated, "That is because you seem like an interesting class."

* * *

Sarada grinned and cracked her knuckles. It was the academy student's first spar. Previously, the matches had been strictly boys vs boys and girls vs girls, but the rules had been changed to encourage the girls to be stronger. Sarada loved the new rule, since most of the girls were far below her level in taijutsu, leaving only the boys as suitable taijutsu opponents.

"The matches will be picked at random." Shino announced, "That is because I want everyone to test their skill and not just challenge their friends. The first match will be…" he reached into the straw basket he was carrying, "Wasabi and Denki."

Sarada recognized Denki as he was the son of the Kaminarimon company owner. The boy looked frankly terrified when he walked into the ring, his knobbly knees shaking in fright. Wasabi, on the other hand, cracked her knuckles confidently and strutted into the ring. Sarada didn't know much about Wasabi other than her affinity for cats, so she made a note to pay extra attention to her fighting style.

Wasabi bounced lightly on her toes, waiting for the match to begin. The smile on her face suggested that she was confident in her abilities, or perhaps that she was confident in Denki's lack thereof. Sarada deemed the latter rather messed up, but also highly probable.

"Hajime!" Shino started the match, leaping out of the ring.

Wasabi decided to take full advantage of Denki's cowardice and rushed straight in. With an impressive burst of speed, she leapt behind the boy and knocked him clean off his feet. Denki fell unceremoniously to the ground, but still pushed himself up, placing his fists in front of his face for protection. Wasabi gave Denki an uncomfortable (and rather pitying) look before she knocked him to the ground again. Ever persistent, Denki clambered to his feet again, his eyes scrunched shut, anticipating the next blow.

"Let's call that a match." Shino interrupted, appearing in between the two, "Wasabi is the winner."

"Next match…" Sarada prayed for her to be matched with Boruto so that she could beat some sense into him, "Sarada vs Boruto."

Sarada smiled as her prayers were answered and she stepped into the ring.

"I'm totally gonna win four-eyes!" Boruto announced, raising his fist for emphasis, "I'm gonna kick your ass-ttebasa!"

"You wish baka-Boruto." Sarada sighed, "You'll understand how wrong you were after this match is over."

Sarada breathed deeply, running strategies in her head. She had seen Boruto train before with his father and alone; his style was reckless and he never planned out his moves beforehand. It was his greatest weakness and his greatest strength. Sarada decided that she should fight unpredictability with unpredictability and threw out her previous well-crafted plan.

"Hajime!"

Sarada knew that Boruto would expect for her to test the waters before going straight into the fight since he didn't know that she had been observing him. Sarada decided to throw him off and start off with a bang.

"Shannaro!" She exclaimed as she shattered the ground with one chakra infused punch.

Boruto's eyes widened with shock and horror as he was thrown off-balance. Sarada seized the opportunity and pinned him to the ground, holding her fist over his face.

"Told you you'd be wrong _dobe_." She teased, accenting the last word.

"The winner of this match is Sarada." Shino announced, quickly jotting something down on his clipboard.

* * *

Sarada walked home fuming. She had just lost a match to Boruto and she couldn't be more angry. It was all because she hadn't activated her sharingan yet! When she had voiced her complaints to her mother, Sakura had assured her that most Uchiha's acquired their sharingan after the academy, but Sarada didn't stand for it. She didn't want to be _average_. If she was average, she'd never be able to totally cream Boruto.

She threw the door of her house open, adding in a little chakra for effect and stormed up to her room.

"Sarada sweetie, what's wrong?" Sakura asked worriedly, hurrying up the stairs, not even bothering to take her doctor's coat off.

Sarada slammed her door shut and pulled the old Uchiha scrolls her ever-absent father had apparently left for her. It was in that moment in which she realized what she needed.

"Nothing's wrong!" She exclaimed, "Not with me at least! What's wrong is the fact that my father, the only person who can teach me real Uchiha techniques hasn't been in by life for years! In fact, I don't even remember what it felt like when he held me! I have no memories of him! Who knows, the pictures of papa could be some random Uchiha man for all I know!"

"Sarada!" Sakura exclaimed, breaking the door off its hinges. She took one look at the ruined door, grimaced, and walked into Sarada's room. "Your father is off protecting us right now. When he gets back, I'm sure he'll teach you everything you need to know." Sakura was careful to not say 'everything he knows' since she was more that positive that Sasuke would want to keep many secrets from his daughter.

* * *

After much confusion and about a gallon of tears, Sarada finally got to see her papa home again. Now that she knew that Sakura was truly her mother and that Sasuke was a sweet and considerate father, Sarada could be at rest.

"Sakura-anata," Sasuke called from the living room, "would you like me to make dinner?"

Sasuke got no response.

Sarada grinned happily at the sight of her father calling her mother's name with such gentle sweetness. "No papa, I think mama's still at work." She slid onto the couch next to her father and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Hn." Sasuke replied with his typical monosyllabic grunt, "Do you want to train?"

Sarada was suddenly giddy with excitement. She had never expected to get to train with her father without suggesting it first. The fact that Sasuke _wanted_ to train with her practically forced her sharingan to activate. "I'd love to!" She exclaimed, leaping off the couch, "I'll get in my training gear and be down in a few minutes."

Sasuke grunted in approval again, walking towards the bookshelf to grab a few training scrolls.

Sarada opened her newly-replaced bedroom door with glee and skipped to her dresser. She grabbed her favorite red tunic, cream shorts, and the arm and leg warmers that had been a gift from Hinata.

After dressing at a record speed, she grabbed her kunai and shuriken pouch and sprinted downstairs. Her father was waiting patiently for her at the door, his katana fastened around his hip.

"Let's go."

* * *

Sarada embraced the clarity of vision she got from her sharingan as she dodged another barrage of kunai. Pivoting gracefully on her heel, she performed her signature shuriken jutsu and aimed the sharp weapons at her father's supposed position. She grinned when she heard the sharp sound of metal against metal, meaning that Sasuke had finally been forced to draw his katana. Riding on that sudden burst of confidence, she confronted him, aiming a chakra infused punch. Sasuke leaped gracefully out of the way, but Sarada didn't drop her fist. Instead, she struck the ground right where Sasuke was about to land, causing cracks to spread outwards. As Sarada expected, Sasuke did not lose his balance like Boruto often did; he leaped outside the damaged area with well practiced ease and aimed a kick at Sarada. Still smiling, she ducked under her father's muscular leg and flipped backwards. Sasuke re-sheathed his katana and gave Sarada a kind smile.

"I am impressed." He stated, "You use your sharingan well, despite its undeveloped form."

Sarada's smile only increased. "Thank you papa!" She replied, wiping sweat off her brow, "I bet mama's waiting for us."

"Hn."

* * *

Sarada smiled exasperatedly at her teammates. Boruto had gotten into trouble yet again, and Mitsuki had done nothing to stop him. Sure, Sarada was a bit miffed that they had jeopardized their mission, but the look of horror on the escort's face when she realized Boruto had deeply insulted her father was priceless.

"Our apologies ma'am." Sarada bowed in front of the woman, trying desperately to stifle laughter, "My teammate did not understand what he was doing. You see, he's a little…" Sarada leaned closer to the woman, "slow."

"Sarada!" Boruto whined, "I heard that!"

"It's okay, you can ignore him." Sarada assured the client, "Though he may not be intellectually strong, I can assure you that you are in good hands when it comes to protection."

"He better be top notch!" The woman exclaimed, "I paid good money for this and I would rather _not_ be killed."

Sarada tried not to yell 'bullshit' as the client blew the simple escort mission out of proportion. They were only protecting her from measly robbers and a couple vindictive princesses who were jealous of her wealth.

"You will definitely not be killed." She said with certainty, "We will make absolutely sure of it."

 _She could walk all by herself and not get anything but a good frighten from some of the wild animals. Much less be brutally murdered._ Sarada thought.

"Mitsuki," she started, "Let's set up camp."

"I'll collect the fire wood." He replied, "Why don't you catch some dinner?"

"I'm on it. I'll have Boruto watch the 'princess'." She placed irritated emphasis on the last word, shooting a disdainful look at the aforementioned subject.

"Boruto!" She called, scanning the area for a yellow mop of hair.

"What, Sarada-teme?" A voice replied from behind Sarada.

"I need you to watch the client _baka-Boruto_."

"Why can't you do it?" He whined.

"Because I need to catch dinner and my aim and stealth is far better than yours." She turned dramatically on her heel and marched into the forest, reaching for her kunai.

* * *

Sarada was practically sprinting home after her mission. When they had delivered the report, Naruto-sama had told Sarada that her parents had to tell her something important.

Sarada was mixed with feelings of anticipation, excitement, and lingering traces of dread.

 _What if what mama and papa have to tell me is bad?_ She thought worriedly, leaping from roof to roof. _Maybe grandma passed away. Or grandpa? Or maybe it's something good. Maybe papa's going to stay here for real. Or maybe mama got a raise? No, she's already head of the hospital._ Her mind was rushing with hypothetical situations and the ways she'd deal with them, but she somehow managed to completely ignore one possibility. Maybe because she was overestimating her parent's age, or she didn't think papa wanted to stay for that period of time, but she somehow didn't think she'd be getting a little sibling.

"Really?!" Sarada exclaimed, not fully processing the full implications of what her mother had just told her.

"Yes." Sasuke replied confidently, "I will also be staying in Konoha for at least three years now."

Sarada received another influx of mixed emotions. Sure she was overjoyed that her father was going to stay at home for at least three years, but she still felt a twang of anger and jealousy when she realized that her father was going to actually see her sibling's childhood when he wasn't around for her's.

"Aren't you excited?" Sakura asked, frowning at Sarada's detached expression.

"Yeah." She said half-heartedly, "I'm going to go out and train."

"But you just got…" Sarada had already left the house before Sakura could say 'home'.

"What's up with her?" Sakura asked Sasuke, leaning on his shoulder.

Sasuke wrapped his single arm affectionately around his wife, "It must be a teen thing."

"Or maybe it's just the Uchiha moodiness. I was hoping it wasn't hereditary." Sakura mock sighed, making her way over to the couch.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, sitting down next to his wife.

"Now you're being detached and moody!" Sakura pouted, sticking her bottom lip out, "Am I being too _annoying_?"

"You know what could make you less annoying?" Sasuke asked suggestively, "If you don't know, we can talk about it tonight."

Sakura blushed slightly and gave Sasuke a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love you Sasuke-kun." She whispered, "I think I'll take you up on that offer about tonight. Now, I need to make some dinner."

"Hn."

* * *

Sarada half stomped to the training grounds, still battling with her emotions. She wanted what was best for her younger sibling, of course she did! But she couldn't push aside the feelings of jealousy that plagued her mind. She needed someone to talk to. Her mind went first to her teammates. She could speak to Boruto; no, he'd be far too immature and annoying. Mitsuki was also out of the question, as Sarada doubted that he even had an emotional range. She needed to speak to an adult, one that knew how to approach children. _Auntie Ino_! Her mind lit up as she made her way to the Yamanaka complex.

Her fist hit the door twice before it was quickly opened by a tall, blonde woman.

"Sarada-chan!" Ino exclaimed enthusiastically, "I haven't seen you for ages, please come in!"

Ino ushered Sarada to the kitchen where she placed a pot of tea and some snacks in front of Sarada.

"If you were hoping to speak to Inojin, I'm afraid you're out of luck." She said, sitting across from Sarada.

"Oh, I was hoping to speak to you." She replied, grabbing a stick of tri-colored dango.

"Perfect! About what? Are there any boys you like?" Ino sipped her tea and straightened her long blonde ponytail.

"No, no, it's not about boys." Sarada took a deep breath. "It's just, I'm going to have a little sibling-"

"Oh yes!" Ino interrupted, "I've heard!" She took one look at Sarada's conflicted face and changed her attitude, "Now you don't seem all that excited about that. Want to talk about it?"

Sarada nodded, swallowing her dango. "I'm happy that I'll have a sibling, and I want what's best for them. It's just, my papa will be staying and paying so much more attention to him than they did with me. And I know that sounds really selfish, I just struggled for such a long time to get papa to notice and love me, I feel that it's-it's not fair."

"Oh sweetie, your papa always loved you." Ino said kindly, "Though you may not remember it, he would carry you around with him everywhere before he left for the village. You probably know that Sasuke isn't particularly simley, but whenever he'd look at you, he'd grin. And it scared us all at first, because we'd never really seen him smile, and we were worried that he'd kill someone or something-oh I'm going off on a tangent! Anyway, I know it may seem like Sasuke loves your sibling more, but I assure you that he was just as happy when you were born. Though I wasn't there while Sakura was pregnant the first time, I can assure you that you were really loved!"

"Thank you auntie Ino." Sarada said sincerely, "I know he loved me, but why did he have to leave? Everyone tells me that he had a very important mission to go on, but no mission should be so important that you have to lose contact with your family for ten years!"

"I don't know if I'm that one to tell you that." Ino replied apologetically, "I'm sure Sasuke would want to tell you that for himself."

"That's what everyone says!" Sarada exclaimed indignantly, "No one tells me, and when I ask my papa he poked me in the forehead and says 'maybe next time'."

Ino stifled a laugh, "Here's one thing I _can_ tell you." Sarada perked up, "I'm sure you've heard of your uncle Itachi." Sarada nodded, "See, he used to poke your father in the forehead the same way. If fact, right before he died, that's what he did. It's your papa's way of showing deep affection."

Sarada smiled to herself, "How do you know that auntie Ino?"

"See, right before he left the village about thirteen, fourteen years ago, he poked your mama on the head and promised to take her next time. He did. As for how I know that Itachi did that before he died, Sakura told me."

"Thank you auntie Ino." Sarada hugged the kunoichi and began to walk home.

* * *

"Sarada, you can go see your brother now!" Shizune announced, ushering Sarada into Sakura's room.

"Sarada, this is Kohei." Sakura said cradling the baby boy.

Sarada grinned and walked towards her new brother. Sakura let her hold the little bundle and Sarada held him close to her chest.

"Hello Kohei." She whispered, gazing affectionately at the newborn. "My name is Sarada, and I'm your big sister. I promise to always protect you. No matter what."

The baby stirred in his blankets, and grabbed onto Sarada's index finger. Sarada grinned even wider and rocked the baby gently.

Sasuke smiled lightly to himself while holding Sakura's hand gently. He took in the beautiful image of his two beloved children together and memorized the moment with his sharingan.

"He has pink hair Sasuke." Sakura muttered chuckling, "You said that the Uchiha genes were dominant, but look at him with his pink hair and green eyes. He's a mini me."

"I suppose there are always exceptions."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Tada! I have completed my first two-shot! Thank you so much for the kind reviews, and a special thanks to LackeyHokey for pointing out that** ** _uchiwa_** **isn't capitalized. I'll be sure to fix that! I hope everyone enjoys the final chapter.**

"Come on Kohei!" Sakura coaxed, holding the spoon to the three year old's mouth, "You have to eat some of it!"

"Mama no!" Kohei insisted, shaking his head defiantly, "I want Sarda-neechan to feed me!"

"Kohei sweetie, it's Sarada, and she's out on a mission. Please eat. She'd want you to."

Sarada sneezed. _Must be someone talking about me_. She thought, adjusting her pack on her back. She was the captain of her first mission. Though she was still a chunin, Naruto-sama had entrusted her because of her recently fully-awakened sharingan.

" _If worse comes to worse, you can always hypnotize them into doing the right thing."_ Sarada remembered Naruto's words before she left for the mission. Though he was right, Sarada was really hoping that she wouldn't have to resort to those measures.

"Sarada-taicho," the shortest of her subordinates started, "I can sense the Tsurigakure ninja approaching quickly. Shall we fight them?"

"According to the bingo books, they should be an easy fight." She replied, reaching for her newly acquired katana, "Why don't we indulge them?"

The the chunin assembled in a fighting position with Sarada in the front.

"Akoto," she ordered, motioning to the chunin she had previously spoke to, "Stand in the back. As the healer on this team, we can't afford having you hurt."

"Yes Sarada-taicho." Akoto replied, making her way to the back of the formation.

Sarada activated her sharingan and quickly scanned the area. She saw the Tsuri ninja and almost chuckled. Their chakra levels were ridiculously low and they were already arguing. Being a good shinobi, Sarada knew not to immediately judge ninja by their first appearance, but she was more than positive that they weren't hiding their chakra.

The sub-par ninja came into the clearing, weapons brandished in the least intimidating way possible.

"You are Konoha ninja!" The supposed leader exclaimed, "We will take your precious information now and you will fail your mission while we will triumph!"

Sarada used the shunshin jutsu to appear right behind the trio.

"Didn't you ever learn not to announce your plan before executing it?" She asked icily.

The Tsuri ninja turned their heads slowly, finally turning around and looking into Sarada's spinning tomoe.

Akoto stifled a giggle as the trio of pathetic ninja fell like sandbags to the ground.

"I should have let you guys do a bit of the fighting." Sarada apologized, "It's just that they were so easy to take down, I would have been unnecessarily drawing out the fight by not taking action."

"It's okay taicho." The tallest of the chunin, Yuji smiled, reassuring Sarada.

"We're almost at Sunagakure, let's get this scroll there and be done." Sarada took out her long braid and coiled the wavy hair into a bun. _That braid kept slapping me anyway_. She thought.

* * *

"Good job you four." Naruto placed their mission report on his desk and smiled, "I knew you wouldn't let me down Sarada."

Sarada grinned. She realized that today was probably the best day to ask the question she'd wanted to ask since she joined the academy. The question she'd wanted to ask since Boruto selfishly took her father as his sishou, and stole him from her. She'd moved passed the feeling of jealousy and realized that having her father as a sishou probably wasn't the greatest idea for her, since she wanted to follow a far different path.

Once the other chunin had left, Sarada took a deep breath and walked closer to Naruto. "Hokage-sama," she started, trying to make her voice as solid and confident as possible, "I was wondering if you would take me on as your apprentice. I understand that you don't have much time, but I promise to work hard and carry on the will of fire."

Naruto looked rather surprised for a second before his lips curved into a smile. "With the rapid development I've seen from you and the deep care for your comrades and your village, I would be happy to teach you."

Sarada tried her best not to scream. "Thank you so much Naruto-shishou!" She exclaimed, "I promise to never slack off!"

"I'll hold you to that." He glanced at his packed schedule and sighed, "Let's meet on Sunday at noon. I'll take you to Ichiraku's afterwards."

"I'll see you then." Sarada practically skipped out of the office. She ran back home, wanting to tell her parents and Kohei as soon as possible.

"Mama, Papa, Kohei!" She exclaimed happily as she burst through the door, "Guess what?"

Sakura looked up from her medical textbook and smiled at her daughter, "Well you seem mighty happy, it must be something good!"

"Yeah!" Kohei agreed, grinning with his little toddler smile, "Sarada-nee chan is awesome!"

"Thank you Kohei." Sarada gave her little brother a hug, "Naruto-sama agreed to be my sishou!"

"That's wonderful sweetie!" Sakura beamed, "First you fully awaken your sharingan, then you captain your first mission, then Naruto decides to be your sishou, this seems to be quite the amazing month! Let's go eat something special as a family."

"You're just saying that so you don't have to cook dinner." Sasuke muttered, placing Kohei on his waist.

"I was going to go to that really fancy sushi restaurant, but if you want my sub-par cooking, it's up to you."

Sasuke looked away. "Hn."

"Anyway, freshen up Sarada-chan. Put on something nice too."

Sarada opened the door to her room, smiling at the _uchiwa_ painted on her door. She really hoped that she made her ancestors proud.

Sarada pulled on her embroidered tunic and adjusted the back so the _uchiwa_ was centered. Then she chose her favorite black pants and flats.

"I'm ready mama!" She called, standing in front of the door.

Sakura came bustling down the stairs, trying to put Kohei's shoes on while he kicked and flailed.

"I've got it mama." Sarada came to the rescue as she sat Kohei on her lap and slid the shoes on with ease. "Let's go get something to eat, 'kay?" She tickled her brother's stomach and placed him on her shoulders.

* * *

"Now that you three are back from your respective training excursions," Naruto started, smiling at Sarada, Boruto, and Mitsuki, "I want to send you on a mission. It's A rank, but I believe that you will be able to handle it."

"Mitsuki, you will be in charge of medical ninjutsu and healing, since Sakura's your apprentice, and as for Sarada and Boruto, you guys will just beat up the bad guys."

"Sounds good sishou." Sarada replied, "I heard that there has been some previous interaction with the village we will be going to, Jomae no Sato right?"

"Yes, back when I was a genin, they sent a kunoichi to infiltrate, but she-ehm, was good friends with Kakashi and committed suicide instead of following her village."

"Do they still feel hostile towards the leaf?" Sarada wasn't necessarily worried since she fully trusted her teammates, but it would be a lot easier if everyone was friendly.

"They haven't shown blatant outward hostility, but given the fact that we are stealing information from them, they'll be angry if they ever find out." Naruto rolled up the mission scroll and handed it to Sarada, "I will be trusting this with you. Remember, your job is to get into their information storage room, steal the scroll in question, now this is your part Sarada, I need you to make an exact replica with your sharingan. Once the replica is made, place it where you found the original and high-tail it out of there. Try not to involve in combat, but you have my permission to do whatever's necessary."

"Yes sir!" The three said in unison.

* * *

It was entirely her fault. Sarada looked at the blood soaked battlefield, where the unconscious bodies of her teammates lay prone to further damage. She wasn't able to protect them, and her replica was faulty. If her teammates, the people that lay closest to her heart, were to die, she would have practically killed them. She would have killed her best friends. As she desperately held back tears, a sharp, debilitating pain blossomed behind her eyes, forcing her to scream in agony and fall to her knees. It felt as if someone was tugging at her eyes and dicing them into pieces. All Sarada could see was a searing white; at this point she wasn't entirely sure if she was screaming anymore, for all she knew she could be dead in hell. All she could think of is her teammates blood on her hands, and the way her parents and shisou would look at her with disappointed eyes. Naruto had trusted her and she had failed. She didn't deserve to follow her dream. She didn't deserve to ever become Hokage!

Suddenly the pain subsided. Sarada opened her eyes, gasping when she realized that the world was clearer than it had even been with her sharingan. She didn't linger on that thought long though because she soon saw the figures of her assailants. They were smirking at her teammates fallen bodies, making rage bubble and boil in Sarada's body. She stepped closer to ninja, wiping blood off her face. Where that blood came from, and to whom it belonged, she didn't know, nor did she care. All she cared about was killing those sons of bitches. She wanted them to feel the pain she did, all the guilt and terror she had been subjected to in the past hour, she wanted to unleash on them tenfold. Suddenly, she realized that she could. She looked into their eyes, instinctively pulling them into a genjutsu. She marveled at the plane, embracing the blood red sky and the amount of torture she'd be able to subject them to in this new world.

They were tied to stakes as Sarada repeatedly stabbed them, using any material she could imagine. In her rage, she didn't notice how truly evil she was being. For once in her life, all she could think about was doing harm to people.

After what seemed like ages, she broke the genjutsu. She looked at her teammates, noticing that their blood had hardly spread, meaning that her genjutsu had lasted mere seconds, not hours.

Suddenly the implications of what she had done caught up to her. She was hit by a wave of severe nausea and proceeded to empty her stomach on the ground in front of her. Getting over her sudden sickness, she hoisted her teammates onto her shoulders and began to make her way back to the village. She ignored the searing pain that plagued every part of her body and forced herself forward.

Finally the gates were in view. She practically sobbed once she saw the beautiful village she called home, and used the last of her energy to walk into the village before collapsing.

* * *

Everything hurt. Not as much as it did before she passed out, but it still hurt. Sarada forced her eyes open, just to quickly shut them again once she saw the bright, white lights.

"Sarada, you're awake." A familiar voice said from beside her bed.

Sarada opened her eyes again and turned her head to see the person who spoke. It was Naruto. Sarada fought back the strong urge to cry. "I failed shishou."

She whispered, her throat felt like sandpaper.

"You did your absolute best." Naruto replied, patting Sarada's hand, "Boruto and Mitsuki haven't woken up yet, but would you like to tell me what happened. I already struck an alliance with Jomoe no Sato once they realized that the scroll you took originally belonged to the leaf village, so don't worry."

Sarada sighed in relief. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, trying not to visibly cringe in pain.

"The mission went well up until we took the scroll." She started, taking a sip of water from the glass beside her bed. With a far less painful throat, she continued louder, "Somehow the guard knew we were in there despite completely cloaking our chakra. When we heard his footsteps, I made the replica really quickly, and messed up a bit. The guard noticed that and sent their top ninja to intercept us. We tried really hard to fight them, but there were three of us and ten of them, all jonin or tokubetsu jonin level. Mitsuki and Boruto got hurt first, then something weird happened. For some reason it's kind of foggy, but my eyes started to really hurt. And I mean like _really_ hurt. After that, I can't really remember what happened. All I know it that I missed only about three seconds, but the enemy ninja were dead once I regained-well, vision."

Sarada turned to look at Naruto's expression. Instead of looking disappointed, he looked slightly frightened. "I'm going to get Sasuke." He announced, "I suppose I don't have to tell you to stay put."

Sarada leaned back into the pillows and closed her eyes, drifting into blissful unconsciousness until she was awoken by someone lightly shaking her. She opened her eyes again, noting how it was substantially less painful.

"Papa." She whispered, hugging her father as tightly as she could.

Sasuke looked affectionately at his daughter before switching to a more serious expression.

"Activate your sharingan." He commanded, looking Sarada dead in the eye.

Sarada did as she was told, noting the clarity in her vision.

"Now try to do the same thing again."

She looked at her father with a confused expression, but ultimately followed his instructions. Instead of having nothing happen as she expected, her vision became clearer, and some of the pain returned.

Sasuke handed Sarada a handheld mirror. "What you see in that mirror is the next stage of the sharingan, called the mangekyo sharingan. I had hoped you would never have to get to this stage, but I will take you to the Nakano Shrine once you are discharged."

Sarada looked at her reflection, gasping when she saw that her eyes were not the three tomoe she was accustomed to, but instead a black cherry blossom in a red background. "What can I do with the mangekyo sharingan?" She asked, blinking several times to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"From your description, it seems like you can use the Tsukiyomi like your uncle Itachi." Sasuke replied placing the mirror on the bedside table, "We will talk more about it once you have recovered, Sakura and Kohei want to see you."

Right on cue, two pink haired, green eyed people came into the room, both rushing in for a hug.

"Sarada-neechan!" Kohei exclaimed, hugging his big sister, "You're going to get better right?"

"Of course!" Sarada said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, "I'll better before you know it!"

"Well I can make that happen Sarada sweetie." Sakura said, ruffling her daughter's hair. "Now that you're out of critical condition when I can't operate on you because you're family, that rule is crap anyway, I can fix you up so you're good as new. Those doctors don't know what they're doing. Trust your mama!"

Sarada nodded, eager to feel at least a little less crappy.

Sakura leaned over her daughter and smiled, placing her calloused palms on Sarada's abdomen. "I'm so proud of you sweetie."

* * *

Sarada was well aware of the rules of the mangekyo sharingan: don't use it unless absolutely necessary and be careful to not lose control or you may harm those close to you, but she really wanted to stick Boruto into a Tsukiyomi of him tripping over a rock for all of eternity. It would be so very hilarious and not to mention, Sarada would be able to practice using the technique. The only way she was allowed to practice was using regular genjutsu and trying to replicate the terrain. It was far from the same though.

At the moment, she was in charge of training her favorite Shin clone named Kenji. More than anything, she wanted to help him with his mangekyo sharingan, but she was not allowed.

"The best use of your sharingan disguising it with transformation jutsu then getting your enemy to look into your eyes, effectively trapping them in genjutsu." She instructed, demonstrating the transformation technique on her eyes, "Now I want you to try it on Boruto."

"Wait!" Boruto exclaimed indignantly, "Why can't Kenji try it on you?!"

"Because I'm a sharingan weilder baka-Boruto. I might accidentally reverse the genjutsu and hurt him."

"Fine." Boruto pouted, tensing his muscles in anticipation.

Kenji looked at Boruto, his eyes a natural brown. As soon as the two had made eye contact, Boruto crumpled to the ground like a drunk.

"Have I hurt him?" Kenji asked monotonously, "Kabuto told me to feel remorse if I have injured someone."

"No, he's fine." Sarada assured, slapping the Uzumaki.

Boruto woke up with a jolt. "Damn you Sarada-teme!" He exclaimed, "You only did that to humiliate me!"

"That wasn't the only reason…" She teased, helping her teammate to his feet.

* * *

Kenji was dead. His death didn't come as a surprise, in fact, many Shin clones were dying because of some unknown illness that ran in their genes. Despite the forewarning, Sarada was still devastated. Kenji was the closest person Sarada had to an apprentice and he held a close place in her heart as a second brother, even if Kenji didn't have the capacity to love her. His blunt personality reminded her of Mitsuki, and the fact that she could get along with a Shin clone meant that she was moving on from her childhood grievances.

"Sarada-san?" One of the workers at the orphanage called her name, "If Uchiha Sarada would report to Kabuto-sama's office, he has something to tell her."

Sarada stood up and made her way through the brightly painted hallways and towards Kabuto's office.

"Ah, Sarada!" Kabuto exclaimed, motioning for her to come through the doorway, "As you've probably heard, our lovely Kenji has passed away." His unnaturally pale face dropped in sadness, "Before he died though, he did something rather _uncharacteristic_ for a Shin clone. He showed emotion and asked if he could give you his eyes as a gift."

"H-he did?" Sarada asked incredulously, "He knew what that would imply, since we were practically siblings?"

"I believe that he did understand that if he gave you his eyes, you would achieve the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan." Kabuto replied knowingly. He swiveled around in his rolling chair and rummaged through his file cabinets. When he had turned back around, he was holding two vials filled with some kind of preserving serum and a sharingan eye suspended in the center. He looked at the vials with a melancholy expression.

"I hope they serve you well." He said, handing the vials to Sarada.

"Thank you." She replied, walking towards the cemetery.

* * *

She knew she had spent at least an hour sitting in front of Kenji's grave, thanking him profusely for the gift, shedding tears over the fact that she would never see him again, and reminiscing over his sadly brief life.

As she was about to stand up and leave, Shizune placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura told me about what happened." She wrapped the girl in a warm and loving embrace, "I know this isn't what you want to be talking about right now, but we need to plan the implant surgery."

Sarada nodded, wiping away tears. She took a shaky breath, "When's the earliest date that we can do it? I just want to get it over with."

"We can perform the surgery today if you would like." Shizune replied, placing her hands on Sarada's shoulders.

"I-I would like that." Sarada combed her long black hair out of her face and straightened her glasses. "May I go home first and spend the day with my family?"

"Of course. Report to the hospital at seven o'clock tonight."

Sarada nodded and began to walk to the Uchiha complex. She had just lost someone she considered family, and she wanted nothing but to be around the rest of her family, to make sure she didn't lose them.

"Kohei!" She called, running towards her little brother, "How was your day?"

"Mama said that she'd start training me soon since I'm gonna go to the academy next year!" He said enthusiastically, "Did ya know that I'm five now Sarada-neechan?" He held up five chubby fingers, "That's a whole hand!"

"I heard!" She walked with him to the front door, "Once you start training and get really strong, you can spar with me." Thoughts of the spars she had with Kenji flashed in her mind, causing her to frown.

"What's wrong oneechan?" He looked at her worriedly with his big green eyes, "Are ya hungry? Mama's making dinner."

"That's great. Dinner will make me feel all better." She smiled brightly at her little brother, "You always know how to fix things, don't you?"

"Yep!" Sarada couldn't resist the urge to squeeze him tightly.

"I will always love you Kohei." She whispered, her cheek right on top of his soft, pink hair.

* * *

The mission was supposed to be very dangerous. That's why Naruto had sent Sarada, Mitsuki, Boruto, and Mirai as they were the most promising ninja of their generation.

"Our job is simply to take out the enemies where they stand." Mirai instructed, looking at the new team seven with her large red eyes, "There is absolutely no time to reason or speak with the enemies. This is purely an assassination mission."

"If it's an assassination mission, why aren't ANBU members doing it?" Boruto crossed his arms indignantly, "Silent killing isn't really my style."

Sarada decided to mess with Boruto a bit. Using a simple shunshin jutsu, she appeared behind Boruto, "It is my style." She whispered icily, flashing her sharingan.

"What the hell Sarada?! That was really scary!"

"Stop messing around." Mirai said with a serious tone. "If you're not going to take this mission seriously, we can turn back right now and Hokage-sama can hear all about how his prestigious student and his son were simply too immature to handle the mission they were assigned to. As for the reason no ANBU were assigned, they're all out on their respective missions."

"Sorry taicho." Boruto and Sarada apologized in unison, glaring at each other.

"My teammates can be strange sometimes." Mitsuki spoke on their behalf, "I don't understand their behavior fully, but I believe that it is called rivalry. I am yet to find someone I would consider a rival."

"That's great Mitsuki. Let's get back to the mission now." Boruto patted his teammate on the back. "So can I come out and blow everything to bits with my flashy moves? Then the enemies will be so scared that they'll let us kill them without any hesitation!"

"You sound just like your gennin self. You really haven't changed at all." Sarada looked at Boruto disapprovingly, "And no. Didn't you hear taicho? This is a silent killing mission."

"Fine, fine." Boruto whined. "You seem like you're in a particularly deadly mood, why don't you do the assassination?"

"I think I will." Sarada hissed, pulling on the black gloves her mother had given her.

All it took was one glance from Sarada and the enemies were trapped in her genjutsu. Without sparing them a minute, Mitsuki plunged his kunai into each of their hearts, killing them instantly.

"Good job you two." Mirai commended, "Now Boruto and I will dispose of the bodies."

"Does this mean I get to burn shit?" Boruto asked enthusiastically.

"Yes." Mirai sighed, "Yes it does."

The two leaned over the corpses, Mirai incinerating them with her signature Sarutobi jutsu and Boruto just threw whatever flame jutsus he had picked up at the bodies.

"Careful you idiot!" Sarada exclaimed, dodging an errant spark, "You're supposed to incinerate the _bodies_ not us."

"Sorry Sarada-teme." Boruto said with mock remorse.

Finally, a mission had gone without a hitch.

* * *

"Great, so we finish an S class mission successfully, but return to a goddamn attack?" Boruto exclaimed incredulously, "Nothing can ever go right can it?"

"No it can't." Sarada agreed, making her way through the rubble that was the west side of the village. "Did the civilians evacuate?"

A jonin stepped towards Sarada, "I believe that most of them have exited the village, but there might be some people left behind."

"I'll find them and evacuate them." Sarada replied, "I'm sure my parents would be happy to take out the enemy."

"Sasuke and Sakura-sama are already on it." The jonin replied. A look of horror passed over his face, "Sakura-sama was in the middle of a load of laundry when she was called to defend the village, so she's-well….irritated."

"And their son, Kohei?" Sarada asked worriedly, roundhouse kicking on of the enemy's subordinates into a building.

"He evacuated safely with the rest of the Konoha Academy underclassmen."

"Thank god. I'm going to scour the village. Boruto, you deal with these annoying pests." She motioned towards the dozens of Tsurigakure ninja that had decided to attack the leaf village. "I think they're bitter about that time my team took out their 'best' shinobi."

Sarada hoped that this attack would be as easy to stop as the one all those years ago, but a nagging voice in the back of her head told her differently.

Running through the damage, Sarada spotted a congregation of people. Upon arriving, she noticed that the civilians were circling around someone. After she pushed her way to the center, she noticed the nanadaime.

"Sarada!" He exclaimed with relief, "I'm glad you, Boruto, Mitsuki, and Mirai made it home safely. As you can see, we're in a bit of a tight-"

Naruto was interrupted by a falling boulder. In the split second before it hit, Sarada had to make a decision. Judging from the size and angle of the rock, it would hit mostly civilians, but still injure the nanadaime. Sarada knew her duty was to protect the hokage with her life, but she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she was responsible for the deaths of a myriad of civilians. Confident enough that Naruto could protect himself, Sarada activated her cherry-blossom pink susanoo for the first time and shielded the civilians.

Just as she had hoped, Naruto flash-stepped out of the way just in time, leaving everyone unharmed.

"That was an impressive maneuver." Naruto commended his student, "I'm glad you made the right choice."

* * *

After the Tsurigakure ninja had been dealt with and subsequently severely punished, Naruto called Sarada to his office.

"Since you have been my student, you have proven that you possess all of the traits necessary for the ideal Konoha shinobi. The will of fire seems to run very strongly in you and you never fail to protect a comrade. You wield your sharingan with grace and use your chakra enhanced strength expertly. I have no doubt you'll represent the village spectacularly as the next Hokage." Naruto gave Sarada a warm smile.

Sarada felt faint. Really, really faint. She was going to be the next Hokage. Oh god. The next Hokage. Like the. Next. Hokage. "Naruto-sama…" she began shakily, "I can't believe-oh my lord, thank you! I promise to never let the village down and to protect it with my life! I mean it!"

* * *

The rosy hues of morning filled Sarada's bedroom, bathing her bed in a soft light. She opened her eyes and smiled with anticipation since today was the day she'd become Hokage.

Stepping off her bed, she put her red glasses on and moved towards her wardrobe, knowing exactly what she would wear.

 _You should look formal but not overdressed._ Sarada remembered her mother's words, picking out her burgundy tunic, soft, black pants, and of course, her Hokage robe.

"Sarada!" Sakura called from downstairs, "Breakfast's ready. You don't want to be late for your big day!

"Coming Mama!" She replied, walking out of her room and to the kitchen. A warm plate of eggs, toast, and fruit sat waiting for Sarada at the table.

"I can't believe my girl has gotten so grown up." Sakura sighed, squeezing her oldest child, "Eat up sweetie. You want to be well fed so that you can show everyone how great the Uchihas are!"

"Thank you for always being there mama." Sarada said sincerely. "I promise to be the greatest Hokage."

"I have no doubt darling." Sakura fought back tears of joy as she saw her daughter walk out of the house, white robe fluttering behind her. The first Uchiha Hokage.


End file.
